17/12/2023
NEWS STORY
Former FIA president, Jean Todt believes that the result of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix should have been cancelled.
His comments come at a time Felipe Massa is taking legal action to have that season's world championship standings overturned.
In what was to become the Crashgate scandal, it was revealed almost a year later that Renault driver, Nelson Piquet Jnr had been ordered to deliberately crash his car in a bid to assist teammate Fernando Alonso.
When it was revealed, Piquet, who had exposed the scandal after being dropped by the French team, was left with his career in tatters, while team boss Flavio Briatore was banned from the sport. However, even though the team's sporting director, Pat Symonds left the team in disgrace, the result stood.
The race was won by Alonso, however Massa, who had been leading the race at the time, subsequently finished 13th following a disastrous pit stop during the yellow flag period that followed Piquet's 'crash'.
The title was decided months later in Brazil when Lewis Hamilton famously passed Timo Glock in the final corner of the final lap to claim fifth, and thereby the point needed to beat (race winner) Massa for the title.
Earlier this year, speaking to a British tabloid, then F1 boss, Bernie Ecclestone revealed that he and (then) FIA president, Max Mosley had been made aware of the true nature of Piquet's 'crash' by his father shortly after.
"Piquet Jr had told his father Nelson that he had been asked by the team to deliberately drive into the wall at a certain point in time in order to trigger a safety car phase and help his team-mate Alonso," Ecclestone told the Daily Mirror. "We decided not to do anything for the time being. We wanted to protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal.
"There was a rule at the time that a world championship ranking was untouchable after the FIA awards ceremony at the end of the year," he added. "So Hamilton was presented with the world championship trophy and everything was fine."
It was this comment by Ecclestone that triggered Massa's legal action.
Jean Todt, who was Ferrari's boss at the time of the Singapore race, and was elected FIA president a year later, believes the result of the race should not have been allowed to stand.
"This case is special," he told L'Equipe. "There was proven cheating that we only found out about later.
"The rule at the FIA has always been that the results must be ratified by Dec. 31, and that we never go back on them," he added. "For this Singapore case, the facts were only revealed a year later, and the sanctions imposed by the FIA before my arrival were cancelled by the Paris Judicial Court.
"When I was president of the FIA, I was not informed of this," he continued. "Discovering that the federation knew the truth before this famous December 31 could indeed change things.
"Unfortunately, Charlie (Whiting) and Max have passed away. In hindsight, well, we should have asked for the race to be cancelled. The completely new fact, if it is true and verifiable, is that the regulator who made the championship official knew."